Radio Stations Want to See King Arbitron Usurped
A revolution is brewing in local radio. Tired of exorbitant rates and inconsistent data, stations are rebelling against Arbitron, the company that produces the quarterly ratings reports, which serve as the holy guide to selling advertising.
Arbitron survives because stations pay for the precious numbers. But KFMB (both AM and FM) and KGB/KPOP, the No. 1 and 2 operations in the city in terms of advertising dollars, have refused to sign new contracts with Arbitron. Top-rated KSON may follow suit in the spring when its current contract runs out.
It is a deliberate conspiracy, the result of “broadcasters at the different stations talking to each other about what they’re paying,” according to KGB/KPOP General Manager Tom Baker.
At a time when radio stations are being hard hit by the recession, Arbitron is asking some broadcasters to commit to paying as much as $1 million each over the next five years, with set yearly increases and no guarantees that the quality of the service will improve.
“We’re tired of it,” Baker said.
Arbitron, which last week gobbled up its primary competitor, Birch Radio, has long been criticized for its wildly fluctuating reports based on people returning diaries detailing their listening habits.
“I feel the methodology is based in the ‘60s,” said KFMB General Manager Paul Palmer, who is also head of the San Diego Broadcasters Assn. “There are a lot of inconsistencies in the reports, and Arbitron hasn’t been responsive to our concerns.”
The disgruntlement is a reflection of a longstanding debate within the industry. Arbitron, which has a virtual monopoly on radio ratings, has always defended its methodology as statistically accurate and pointed to its rising costs to explain its rate increases.
On one level, the stations are simply negotiating to get better contracts out of Arbitron. But they are also hoping to spur some fundamental changes in the way ratings are compiled and used by the stations. For now, both KGB and KFMB will be using statistical information compiled by other companies.
“I think there is a real opportunity here for another company to come in” to challenge Arbitron, Palmer said.
Poinsettia forests on television news sets are as much a part of the holiday season as relatives forcing eggnog on guests and reggae versions of “Frosty the Snowman.” They appear with little ceremony or fanfare, a splash of color on the muted politically correct gray-and-blue sets, reminding viewers that it is time again to teach the cat not to chew on the extension cord for the Christmas lights.
As the sets turn into greenhouses, the closest thing in San Diego to a sign of the season changing, the poinsettia forests engulf the news anchors.
On the KNSD-TV (Channel 39) set, a small patch has grown like a red-and-green fungus. It has risen from below the Romulan Control Center Desk, out of sight of the news team, threatening to take on a life of its own. Viewers want to shout out and warn the anchors that something akin to the invasion of the body snatchers is being re-enacted in front of them, even though it seems superfluous to warn television anchors about body snatchers.
On the KFMB-TV (Channel 8) set, the groves of poinsettias appear to move. Like little gremlins, they creep into shots, appearing magically behind the shoulders of the anchors.
But this year’s Christmas Fauna Award goes to KUSI-TV (Channel 51). Its set looks like a dumping ground for poinsettias. They’re piled everywhere, heaps of them growing, festering, locking the news anchors into poinsettia prison. The set reeks of holiday tidings.
When the poinsettia forests disappear, chopped down by the New Year, viewers will know it is time to move on to spring.
The Nielsen ratings released last week for the November television sweeps period were similar to the Arbitron ratings released earlier the week before. Channel 10 news still won everything, and, like Arbitron, Nielsen showed Channel 8’s 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. news programs dropping two full ratings points from the same period last year. . . .
A newsroom employee from a rival station reflecting on the ratings for Channel 8 news: “They went bungee jumping and the cord broke.” . . .
Channel 8 reporter M.G. Perez has taken a job with KGO in San Francisco. His last day at Channel 8 will be Jan. 17. . . .
Although nothing has been signed yet, a temporary gig at the CBS-owned and operated WBBM-TV in Chicago has apparently turned into a full-time job for former Channel 8 weatherman Larry Mendte. His new title: senior News correspondent. . . .
Jeff Prescott and Mike Berger have signed a new three-year deal with XTRA-FM (91X). When they first jumped from KGB to 91X two years ago, their deal reportedly called for salaries in the $150,000 range. Given the recent layoffs at the station, a source at the station says the duo did take a small cut. . . .
Channel 10 assistant news director Bill Gray has left the station to take a similar post with Channel 10’s sister station, KMGH, in Denver. Veteran producer Jeff Godlis is the new Channel 10 assistant news director. . . .
Longtime KFMB radio sales manager Chuck Cotton has been demoted. “Philosophical differences” was the reason, according to General Manager Palmer, who noted that he believes Cotton will remain with the station in a different capacity. Cotton currently is on extended leave. . . .
Industry observers are betting on an oldies/adult contemporary format as the odds-on favorite to be the new sound at the recently purchased KRMX-FM (94.9), which will almost certainly switch formats within the next few weeks. The logic calls for the format to fall somewhere between the oldies of KCBQ and the Top 40 hits of B100. . . .
An episode of “Donahue” featuring local teen-age filmmaker Shane Salerno is scheduled to air at 3 p.m. today on Channel 39. Known for collecting publicity with the same fervor that some of his peers horde baseball cards, Salerno will appear with the former teen-age drug addicts from North County featured in his oft-publicized documentary, “Sundown.” Their parents will also be on hand for the program, which has the catchy title, “Rich Kids on Drugs.”
CRITIC’S CHOICE
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING--YEAR IN REVIEW
Channel 10 beats the rush of year-in-review programs with “San Diego Yearbook,” a slick, music video-style look at the year’s big events, scheduled to air Thursday at 9 p.m. With segments introduced by quick-edited close-up head shots of the station anchors, dressed in casual clothes, in front of an electronically produced backdrop, the hour-long program is a stylized package that allows the visual images of events to speak for themselves, accented by the moody music. Judging by the segments available for preview at press time, it presents a selective history--for example, war protests are virtually ignored--but it is a well-produced piece that manages to restir the emotions surrounding the past year’s key moments.